Biden and Harris to meet with Stacey Abrams during trip to Georgia

President Biden and Vice President Harris will meet with voting activist and prominent Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams when they go to Atlanta on Friday.

The White House confirmed the meeting, which was first reported by the Associated Press on Thursday.

“She’s played a leading role in voting access and voter protection and she will be an important partner in taking action on this important issue moving forward,” a White House official told The Hill. “The president will be active on voting rights issues, not just in Washington, but also in the states, and this is an example of him doing just that.”

Harris and Biden had originally been set to visit Atlanta to tout their recently passed coronavirus relief package, but now they will be addressing this week’s deadly shooting spree there, which left eight dead, including six Asian American women.

Abrams, a former candidate for governor, has been credited with playing a key role in flipping Georgia in the 2020 presidential election, allowing Biden to become the first Democrat to win the state in almost three decades, as well as paving the way for Democratic Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock to win their January runoff elections and give the party control over the Senate.

The AP reports that Biden and Harris plan on thanking Abrams for her work during the upcoming meeting.

During a pre-election rally in January, Biden said “nobody in America has done more” for voting rights and the Democratic party than Abrams.

“Stacey, you’re changing Georgia,” Biden said. “You’ve changed America.”

Biden and Harris are also expected to meet with Asian-American leaders on Friday to express their support for the community as well as discuss the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in light of Tuesday night’s shootings.

A previously scheduled rally to celebrate the passing of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill has been postponed in light of the attack.

They will also visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is headquartered in Atlanta, to discuss updates to the administration’s efforts to fight the pandemic.